


The Effigy of Jessamine Kaldwin

by tnnyoh



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 13:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13525659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tnnyoh/pseuds/tnnyoh
Summary: Jessamine Kaldwin's spirit was expelled from the dead fleshy cage of the Heart, she spends her final moments in the Void, and gives hope to another lost spirit.





	The Effigy of Jessamine Kaldwin

Her spirit was no longer trapped inside that cage of dead flesh, she was in the Void once more, staring at the edge of nothing.  
  
She took a deep breath "Is this all there is?" She asked.  Her answer came in the form of the Outsider materializing behind her and standing close  
  
"I often ask myself that same question"  Jessamine looked at him "What do you mean? Do you not know?"  
  
He shook his head "I am not all knowing, I am merely a watcher, fated to observe humanity even at it's darkest. I have long lingered past my death, I grow weary. Delilah's only made this worse"  He indicated the void around them "This place and it's darkness haunt the souls of the living."  
  
Jessamine stayed silent, she was confused at the myriad of emotions she was feeling, She was finally free from the cage of the Heart, but she would never be able to see her Corvo, her Emily again.  It was all she could do not to cry.  
  
"What's going to happen to Emily?"  
  
"Emily will make her own way through this adventure, she will make her choice"  
  
"I fear for her, she has so much darkness within her"  
  
Jessamine and him stood at the edge of the Void, staring out at the bleak nothingness with only the songs of whales to break the crushing silence.  
  
"I have seen the world in ways I never expected" She spoke after several minutes, or hours, time worked differently here.  "I have seen the darkness in the hearts of men, women, even children."  She looked at him "And you, you have been here much longer than I.  And have seen much more, how... how can you possibly go on with all you know?"  
  
He looks a little taken aback by the question, Jessamine remembered long ago when she would hear Overseers talk of the Outsider, tall tales of him being a monster, evil who takes the form of man and plays with the very lives of the people he chooses.  
  
This man she was looking at was very different than any of that, he was scared, and alone, he was just like her.  
  
"I don't know if there is a way" He finally said "Thousand of years pass by, nobody will remember the names of those who died, the children sent to rot in the street. The things we know and see will never be known.   We hold on to those things dearly, as they are all that is left"  
  
Jessamine held back her tears "This cannot be all, there has to be another way"  
  
"Are you afraid to die?"  He asked "To finally move away from this?"  
  
She sniffled and wiped an errant tear away from her cheek "I have already died, what is left of me but this?"  
  
"I could ask the same question of myself" He mused  
  
"Why don't you?"  
  
"I have resigned to my fate, this is what they wanted. I live out the rest of my days this way"  
  
"You are a prisoner, then?" Jessamine asked  
  
"Yes, in a manner of speaking.  I am trapped here just as you were trapped here. I am lost, just as you were."  
  
She swallowed hard "But this cannot be the only way, surely somebody could save you?"  
  
He shook his head "There is nobody who can save me, my fate has been sealed. It was sealed the moment that blade-"  
  
"Touched my skin" Jessamine finished  
  
"There is nothing left, I have not lived-" He started  
  
"For a very long time" Jessamine continued  
  
She started to cry and sat on the hard rock floor of the Void, if she were alive the air would almost feel cold, but she had been dead for so very long, not a moment of peace. Not a moment to belong.  
  
"I almost _envy_ you" He said, sitting down beside her "For you get to experience something I never will."  
  
"But I will not be, my Emily.... My Corvo" Jessamine's words felt heavy as if the energy to speak was taking too much from her  
  
"They will always be, I promise you that they will get through this.  You, finally at peace"  He said softly "If anyone deserves this, it is you, Empress Jessamine"  
  
"Is this the last?" She asked, part of her fading away as she spoke  
  
He nodded  
  
"Goodbye" She said, her spirit slowly fading from his vision "I hope one day, you can feel this freedom"  
  
When she faded, he stood there all alone in the dark hatred of the Void, her words echo through his mind.  He wouldn't ever dare to hope.  
  
  



End file.
